Cold and Lost
by runnerandanial
Summary: A simple short story The winter has been upon the village. An old wolf who rather live on his own is now in an unlikely situation of finding a child in the middle of the nowhere. Where did she come from? Who on Möbius is she wounded? What happened to make her so scared of everyone? Questions next questions he'll ask himself all throughout as he does his best to put up with this k
1. Found

_Chapter 1:_

_Cold. Too cold. Absolutely freezing. Why couldn't have spring arrived already? Or better yet! Summer! Those were the muddling thoughts of the grey, old wolf who prepared another stack of wood to take in. He needed to go out into the freezing night for wood unless he wanted to freeze for the rest of the night, of course…_

A curse was lost the howling of the winds as he turned around and glared to the white of the night. As if that would somehow scare off the winds from containing its rein in the night. A cup of hot cocoa in front of the fire would have to do. Wiping up his glasses from fogging up he glared into the white abyss one last time, staring at the whirling storm and the trudge of the figure before returning to the task at hand and picked up the stack of wood.

_Thud! Thud! Thud!_

The wood dropped out of his frozen hands, his body now equally just as frozen to the core with a gust of ice that smacked him right across the face. His vision blurred, heart pounding, hands quivering. Something moved. _Someone moved. _He whirled around once again and stared out into the night. Blue eyes frantically darting around, hoping- praying what he saw wasn't real. Surely the snow in his glasses was playing tricks on his eyes. 

_There!_

His eyes snapped to the figure- a small figure at that slowly trudging through the snow. Slow…so ever slowly. Not a moment later did they drop out of sight. _They dropped out of sight…_

The lantern was snatched from the foot of the trunk and now in his hand, as he raced through the thickets of snow. He cursed more loudly only for it to be blown away by the howls of the winds. _It could be dangerous._ But there was no time to question whether it was worth it or not. The clock was ticking. He had to reach him before the white blanket wrapped them out, erasing any trace of their existence and appearance.

Frantic eyes continuously darted around the white vastness, the lantern outstretched in his hand as he searched for any signs the snow hasn't already covered up of the figure's appearance. _Who- _He thought, _Who goes out in an ungodly hour in the night for whatever reason? Who goes out and thinks, "I'll go for a walk in the middle of a blizzard night!"_ Nobody that's who! At least nobody sane.

Despair was beginning to gnaw at him from inside, by now he must've been where he spotted the lone figure. Nothing in sight, he might've as well given up as he looked down at the snow with a pink splotch. _Pink_. Pink quills to be exact. He found it.

He got down to his knees, dropping the lamp to the side and began to dig out the snow. The wind fighting against him to cover the figure up with the white blanket. More curses were loose, his whole body was shivering and finally pulled out the figure.

_It was..._

_It was..._

_It's a..._

Child. _A child_.

The world slowed to a stop. Everything was unmoving. Heat was bubbling up, a burst of rage and confusion ready to explode from its bottle at the sight before him, right in between his arms. A child. Such a small one.

The child trembled in his grasp, as he held the lantern above her to get a better look. A hedgehog, her pink quills were an absolute mess, bruises scattered all over her with her muzzle and fingers pale, a tint of blue now covering the tip. She clearly was not dressed for the weather and the wounds made it all the more confusing and infuriating.

Shoving every question aside he cradled the child in his arms trying to provide some sort of warmth in the meantime and got up. Another glare was given to the night before trudging back to the cabin, the winds growing stronger he feared it would blow away the child in his arms.

_Finally! Warmth at last! _He kicked the door shut behind him and shook off any snow scattered on him. Hanging up the lantern he took a good look at the unconscious child. 

She was just a tiny child, a hedgehog, dark pink quills all over the place with red at the tip. A scarf to big to fit her with an oversized hoodie, he would've assumed it was for the cold but the shorts and bandages told him otherwise, the child didn't even have shoes on.

_How?- Who? _He stiffened up. Was that _blood? _What kind of _monster_ would hurt a child like this? For what purpose? For what evil deeds would they possibly do this to a child?

He began to wipe off all the snow of him before the child ended up not cold and hurt, but soaked as well. For now, he would lay her on the couch and tend to her wounds until then. Blankets, pillows, bandages, antidotes, towels that should all do for now as he began to process. Every shaky, weak breathing, every twitch, and whimper from the child only deepened his sympathy to her and anger to what has done this in the first place.

~-——❨——-~

_Such warmth._ Where….Hazy and confused green eyes pried open, only to shut again from the bright light. She was awake. Awake, confused, and surprisingly cozy. The pink hedgehog laid on…whatever she was on, bundled up in the warmth of the blankets she rather not question at the moment where they came from.

Her mind was cloudy, what happened? How did she get here? Maybe she should get up and look around. Maybe-

_Creak._

Her eyes snapped open, now frantically searching around for the noise before violently flinching, a quiet whimper was her response with her head throbbing and if she were to set a hand to the side of her head, she could feel the bandages wrapped around her head. Bandages? _Bandages? _Dazed she looked down to herself and stared at the blue blanket. To herself, she saw she was wrapped in bandages and bandaids. Her grey hoodie was now gone as well as…_as well as_...her scarf. Where's her scarf?

Panic burst within as she frantically felt for her scarf. _Where was it?!_ Where was her scarf?! A shiver went up to her spine as she began to climb out of the blankets, her whole body was quivering with her pounding heart, trying to resist the burning pain and exhaustion throughout her body and fell from the couch- _Thud!-_ as a consequence for straining her body.

She cried with a yelp now on the brink of tears. Everything hurt. So cold. So cold. The world was spinning before her and the tears didn't help one bit in her already blurring vision. A burning sensation swept through her body as she whimpered yet again.

Her breathing was rapid, uneven and weak, shivering to the core even more after losing her only source of warmth and comfort. _My scarf..! _Another whimper interrupted her thoughts. She forced her petrified, weak form to get up, only to fall back down with a cry. Where was she? How did she get here? Why was she here? Where were her friends?! _What?!-_

_Tap, tap, tap, tap._

An ear twitched to the oncoming footsteps, her whole body trembled on the floor as she wrapped her hands onto her head. With a pounding heart and fast breathing, she peeked through her arms, terrified, teary, green eyes attempting to see who or what was closing in on her, now ready for the worst. The footsteps stopped, sensing eyes on her she curled up into a ball as the pain worsened.

"Don't, don't do that…you'll only harm yourself even more." A hoarse voice spoke up, the stranger began to gently lift the hedgehog up from her frightened state. The child's response was to squirm and twist from the stranger's grip, now flinching from the pain and weakly whimpered. The poor child was in a downpour of tears.

"Kid don't –" The stranger started up again only for her to whine, "kid take it easy there…work with me- just look. You're hurt. I'm trying to help- but you need to listen.." She was kept in a gentle grip, careful not be dropped to the ground again as she surrendered to the voice. Her tearful eyes met with tired blue eyes of a middle-aged, gray wolf who stared back to her, now adjusting his glasses. Her heart was pounding, confused about this stranger's appearance. Eyes snapping back and forth between the stranger and the hands holding her.

The gray wolf took a good look of her state, a moment of awkward silence filled the room before he spoke up. He tried to reach out to wipe the tears, an attempt to help, only for the child to pull away and flinch. This would be fun.


	2. Acquainted?

The wolf frowned to the child in his hands, he didn't think she would put up this much of a struggle for someone so small. And those scared eyes, just what happened to her? Did he expect her to speak? Ask questions? Maybe fall back asleep again. 

And yet here she was, afraid, alert, he could see her confusion and yet she spoke no word. "You're in my home now..." He set her back down onto the couch, hoping she was listening. "You were out in a blizzard..it's already been a few hours since you were passed out and I found you...you're extremely hurt..." That was more of a reminder to himself than anything.

"Can I know your name..?" The man questioned while bundling up the child back into the blankets who started him with such wide eyes. No answer. "Ok...my name is Maikoh. I don't know what happened out there to you but at the very least, I'd like to know your name." Still, no answer...he stared down at the girl, his ears alert for even the quietest voice for an answer. But nothing...

He held his breath and got back to his feet, questioning what was going on through her mind before turning to the kitchen. The delicious aroma of soup filled the air as he readies two bowls to eat from, now tracing his thoughts of what's happened in the span of a few hours. He never was the best with kids, he didn't have the touch to ease them and feel home, and he especially didn't know how to do with such a scared and quiet child.

With a heavy sigh, he returned to the living with the bowl of soup, an ear twitching for any sounds of the girl getting out of the couch again. So far he heard nothing, and there she was still in place, wide awake and taking in of her new surroundings. He looked around as well.

Nothing impressive. A short, wooden table laid in the middle of the living room with the gray couch in front of it that stood right against the wall, it had quite the lovely view outside the window. The fire was on the opposite side of the table, illuminating the rest of the room, on each side, there was a lamp and a bookshelf stuffed with books.

Maikoh held the bowl to the child who flinched in sight..that wasn't reassuring. He sucked in a breath and set the bowl down to the table with the spoon next to it, then proceeded to push it closer for the girl to reach. 

"Careful it's hot." He reluctantly spoke again, glancing at the scared child who wiped her tears herself. "This is for you to eat in case you're hungry-" He was sure she must've been starving, "So I'll leave this here for you..."

He turned to the girl again, waiting for some sort of response, surely she had to speak at some point. Right?

"..."

Apparently not. He turned his attention to the dwindling fire and focused on keeping it alive.

=

Wide eyes watched every movement from the man. Once he left only then did the child begin to relax, now snuggling into the warm embrace of the blanket.

An ear twitched to every single sound in the cabin, and yet all eyes were on the bowl of soup. Nudging her to come closer with the scent of the steamy soup, to which her stomach growled. It was clear now she was starving.

Climbing out from her secured little burrow, the pink hedgehog sniffed the air and nudged closer to the soup. No longer caring for any risks she grabbed the spoon and ate. Unknown to her, eyes were on her.

~-——❨——-~

Day one of trying to get the child to speak. Not a single word. He went past the kitchen and went to walk through the living room only to be stopped at the child outside from her burrow. Said child panicked at the sight of him, her short quills bristled, puffing up to make her appear bigger as if she was being threatened by the very sight of him.

Her whole body was trembling, yet she didn't move from the very space she occupied while staring at him with wide quivering eyes. The room was filled with awkward tension, fun, now what could he do to lighten the situation up?

"Uh, hey there kid.." a flinch was the response from the child, still he kept going, "What are you doing up? You're still hurt and need rest." No answer, but it was to be expected. He took a step forward and the child flinched again, but he kept moving. At some point, the kid would have to get used to him moving around in his home and understand he meant no harm.

~-——❨——-~

Why was he getting closer? Why was he getting closer? _Why was he getting closer?_ The child trembled in her spot as Maikoh continued to walk forward. He stopped. She was shaking as she didn't move her eyes from him once he knelt in front of her. What was he going to do?

She automatically flinched and curled back the moment he raised his hand towards her. If he noticed, he didn't react. She shut her eyes, she didn't know what was going to happen, _what was he going to do?_ Time was so slow when it felt like it, she didn't want to open her eyes what- her thoughts abruptly stopped. A rough hand was on her head and she was given a gentle touch. She was getting a pat on the head.

Reluctantly she pried her eyes open and glanced up, he had a gentle smile. After a minute she flinched again when he got up, now keeping an eye once he moved off to another room. Now dazed and confused she set her hand on her head where he patted her. No slap. No forceful pull. No yelling. Nothing.

Maybe...no she couldn't let go so easily. She went back to her search. The quest for her scarf. He took it and she couldn't find it now. She wanted her scarf back- she _needed_ her scarf back. But searching the living room and kitchen she found nothing and by now she was already exhausted as her patched up wounds we're burning her. Reluctantly she climbed back to the couch and fell asleep.

~-——❨——-~

After an hour Maikoh stepped back to the living room the check up on the hedgehog only to see her waking up again, looks like this would be his chance to return something. Walking over he knelt down in front of the child who flinched at the sight of him, granted she didn't seem as alert for once.

He patiently waited for her to wake up, once those wide green eyes were now on him he nodded to her. "Evening...I hope you slept well." Again, no response. "I brought you something, I would've returned this sooner but it took a while to get them to dry." Pulling out her hoodie and scarf from behind he rook note once her eyes widen. Not even a second was she already trying to reach out with her tiny hands for the scarf, giving him a pleading look to give it back.

That...isn't expected. He didn't waste a second in handing the scarf first over to the child, she clutched the scarf as if her life depended on it, now wrapping her arms around and keeping it close to herself. She didn't even care about the hoodie. Note to self, she has so sort of attachment to a scarf where a child who has an attachment to their favorite toy.

~-——❨——-~

She got her scarf back! Where was it this whole time? Was it broken? Was it messed up? She looked at it. It was perfect, she hugged the scarf again smiling for the first time since her arrival in this new household. Now to put it on.

Wrapping the oversized scarf around her neck it fell, she tried again and attempted to tie it up only to fail. How was she supposed to wear the scarf again? 

~-——❨——-~

Seeing the child smile for the first time...he was in awe. There was a sweat drop that then formed at the sight of the child struggling to put on the scarf. Explain to him why she had such a big scarf. Shaking his head he reached out to help only for her to pull back, her grip on the scarf tightening. "Kid, I can see you want the scarf but it looks to me you can't put it on." 

He raised a brow when the kid let out a frustrated huff as she looked down at her scarf. "Can I help?" 

"..."

"Please...I can see you struggling." Maikoh was persistent, after a few slivers of a struggle the kid finally surrendered. The wary stare she had when she first arrived now returned..the smile, unfortunately, was now gone when she hesitantly held the scarf up for him to grab. To that, the old wolf made sure to thank her as he took the scarf and very gently wrapped her up with it.

The deed was done, she has her scarf back and I was covering her muzzle, granted she didn't seem to mind, in fact, she seemed to be more at ease even with such a childish smile. That, that was something he brought a smile to his face. "Glad to be of service. Now I'll go and make us something to eat, let me know if there's anything you want." He added, knowing full well she wouldn't speak as he headed to the kitchen. Nonetheless, he felt as if progress was finally made, it may not see much. But it was better than nothing.


End file.
